Seems like everything old is new again these days. Nostalgia is in high demand, from the cars we drive to the clothes we wear. With that being said, its only natural for this nostalgia to trickle down into niche markets like high end chogokin. I know, when I use the words "high-end chogokin", you may immediately think of Bandai's highly successful Soul Of Chogokin line. Well think again! Yamato's G-NU Hagane line is right on par with Bandai and in some ways may be even better!

The first thing you will notice about this toy is that the box is huge, measuring is at 5"x14"x19". Not only is the box imposing but it is also nicely illustrated with Danguard in both Robot mode and Satellizer mode.

Danguard comes packaged neatly in glorious retro styrofoam. What is it with toys packaged in styrofoam? It's a combination that most chogokin collectors love and I am no exception. Just gaze upon the styrofoam goodness! You can almost smell one's youth on Christmas morning, ahhh.

Going into the photos of the actual toy I started off with a close up of the head to show the great paint detail on the face and the sharp edges of Danguard's helmet. Truly the sculptors at Yamato are masters at such details.

Detail on the face is one thing, but what about the rest of the 11" tall body? Oh, and lets not forget the quality of the materials. I can assure you that details on this figure are both anime accurate and well executed, as shown in the next few photo's. As for the building material quality? Only high end plastics and 2 lbs of die-cast metal are used. Yes, you read correct! 2 lbs. of metal and the rest is plastics making up his 2.4 lb total weight.

Onto some of the weapons. The first weapon shown in the next 2 photos is the "Pulsar Cannon" which is revealed when you open up Danguards chest. You simply open the chest and attach the detailed PVC lights beam. Notice the alternative open hands that add more drama to the pose. Danguard includes 1 set of closed, 1 set of open, and 1 set of weapon holding hands.

Nicely detailed "Teleportion Missiles" can be mounted to either shoulder in robot or Satellizer mode. Shown launching in Robot mode.

Danguard' signature weapon is the "Cosmo Arrow" or "Double Shaft" shown in the next 3 pictures. I must apologize, when taking the photos I forgot to remove the "Cosmo Arrow" pieces from Danguard shins, my bad. This also reminds me to mention that one of Danguard's flaws is that the Cosmo Arrows do not stay on his shins very securely.

Moving forward...What Super Robot is complete without a Rocket Punch? In Danguard's case its called the "Teleportion Punch" but it will always be a Rocket Punch to me. The snap in PVC smoke trail can be used on either left or right arms.

The last cool feature of Danguard in robot mode is that the wings from the Satellizer mode can be attached to the back of Danguard. Note the unsightly screw holes easily seen in the next photo. Don't worry, Yamato has you covered, they graciously included a full set of screw hole covers in the appropriate colors for you to kill time with.

Danguard's alternative spaceship mode, known as the Satellizer, will be the subject of the remainder of this review. Starting off with the landing gear attached. The landing gear simply snaps on and off and is made of die-cast metal with rubber tires. Notice the fourth photo down. You can see that the Satellizer can actually balance on its rear wheels for takeoff.

The next photo is a Danguard's helmet known as the Gard Rancher I believe. As you can see its a far cry from the gimmick laden Popy original.

The last six photos show the Satellizer mounted on its optional base. The base is adjustable to the angle you desire with the twist of a screw. I want to take this opportunity to mention the another minor flaw with Danguard. The wings in Satellizer mode want to fall off with the slightest of motion. You can check this out in our video review above.

Comparison shot with the other Force Five Super Robots.

Marvel Comic's Shogun Warriors lineup.

In conclusion, I feel that Yamato did a fantastic job on this toy even with its minor flaws. My opinion is that if you like the character, go out and purchase this piece, you wont be disappointed.

I apologize for the delay in this review. We were waiting for Danguard's US release. Unfortunately there may be some licensing issues that need to be resolved before its US release. Don't let this concern you - you can still find Danguard at reasonable prices on Ebay as well as most of your favorite import toy retailers.

Comments

I...ermm...*ahem*...may have had a chance to play with this toy at some point before... ;)

Dan, I don't recall there being a problem at all attaching the Cosmo Arrows to the lower legs. If I recall correctly, you put the tabs on the back of the Arrows into the holes on the legs, then you slide the whole Arrow to the side to click them into place securely. Are you sure you're doing the slide? I remember these being tight as a drum.

I don't really remember experiencing the other two problems either, but then again, I don't think I ever changed it to Satellizer mode.

[nerd]Oh, and lastly, as I recall from the (Force Five) cartoon, the "Photon Punch" technically wasn't a true Rocket Punch: I think his fists didn't actually go anywhere, but pulsing energy copies of his fists would fire off and blast the enemy![/nerd]

Hi Sanjeev,
I know the Cosmo Arrows slide over but they still just come off very easily and the Teleportation Punch was the name they call the Photon punch on the Yamato USA website. So go kick some nerd science with them...LOL

"the legs should have a connecting pin to add more rigidity to the Satellizer mode."

Search the box once again, it does come with a connecting pin! It fits snuggly in the middle screw holes on the inside of the legs.

Note that if you fill in the hole with the cover you will then not be able to attach the pin. I didn't realize this at the time and spent ten minutes trying to find the hole the pin used to go in. Not my brightest moment...

I was actually waiting to see a review of this guy here before I took the plunge, but I couldn't hold out any longer and bought a metallic version (not the chrome) for about 200 shipped locally. I was so impressed with it that I did a video review of it but CDX's version is much more entertaining to watch and gets into the transformation. I was a bit overwhelmed with the diecast content. Pricey yes, regret buying? no. It stings spending that much on a toy, but the fascination and awe this figure provides and high quality build make up for that. Don't care that some of its proportions are daring or off to some, this is one awesome figure. Thinking about getting the chrome version now, but it will have to wait since I've got about 6 chogokins on the way and wallet is empty :(

... I did want to add that the shin pieces on mine stay on real good as long as they are slid in correctly. they use friction to stay on so adding nail polish (great advice I learned on this site) may close up the tolerances a bit for those of you with that problem of loose shins. I have no other loose problems that I know of.. too afraid to transform it and scratch it or break it after spending so much haha

I just received mine a couple days ago and I just love it. The shin thing is a little annoying since I don't know why they didn't design it to install from top to bottom instead of side to side but that's a minor quibble. Also in your picks it looks like you didn't extend the legs all the way in the groin area, that would have increased your articulation considerably and raise the height a good 3/4 of a inche. But this is a solid piece and has some real shelf presence, also Angolz has it on sale for $134.00 for the regular version so it's actually quite reasonably priced too, I'm thinking of buying another one.

I'm tempted by this... it's a massive looking piece of Gokin, and the transformation is significantly less parts-swapping than I initially thought, but I just wish the proportions on the bot mode were better... the lower arms and hands are just too small looking at the chest too wide.

Not to call anyone out in particular, but I just don't get the whining about the "proportions" of the robot mode (sorry, Ben! ;P ).

I mean, have any of you seen the friggin' cartoon!?

It's like, fine, I can accept that modern gokin are "adult collectibles", not toys. They emphasize "anime-accuracy" over imaginative play. Whatever. But now we have a toy that fits that bill PERFECTLY...and people are still complaining. WTF?

You can't really go by the Anime 100% of the time because it was so inconsistent, one episode he had a tiny head then the next it was huge. In the second season of Danguard he appeared much more proportionally than in the first season but still it wasn't consistent. But for the figure itself it's just in human nature to be attracted to what's proportional. When I was in Collage for computer animation we had to learn proper proportion for the human body, the hands should end at mid-thing, the head should be roughly the size of you hand ect. Granted these are giant robots, but there human styled giant robots and for the most part they look like humans wearing armor or something especially the ones with human like faces like Danguard. Truth be told I was quite bothered when I first saw the head size, but actually owning the figure it really doesn't bother me at all, sure if the head was 25-50% larger it would look better to me but as it is it's not gonna stop me from thinking about buying a second one.

To be fair, I have not. I'm just looking at the toy through my 'Standard Robot-fan' goggles, and am used to slightly more human, or even the standard 'heroic' proportions different sculptors and designers use. In Dangard's case, the only thing I have is the ST, and I like how the arms and hands are a bit bigger and meatier on that toy... I could live with the rest of the stuff a bit more on Yamato's offering if the hands and forearms were larger. The hands are just too 'dainty' for the rest of the robot... especially with those massive legs and that big barrel-chest. It's a super-robot... it should look 'super' and powerful, like it can kick the snot out of any bad-guys. With the size of the chest and torso, any other comparable design would have big meaty butt-kicker paws to swing around that giant weapon and generally put the hurt on.

As a toy it's still slick tho, and like I said I'm way more impressed now that I see it uses much less parts-swapping to transform... I thought it was like Braiger or Grozier, and had an entire different leg assembly for Sattelizer mode.

that comic montage pic was awesome...made me wish i had not lost all my shogun comics...sniff.
BTW I wish with all these million releases of th same darn robot some company would release spaceketers (yeah i know i misspelled it)...go star crow

about the proportion issues, any of you who took any art classes or at least have a remedial knowledge of proportions and perspective, would know that a small head emphasizes overall size. also, i dont understand the proportions issue with giant robots, be they humanoid shaped or spider shaped or whatever. the way i look at it, any deviation from the standard "One quarter of one head down in this second head is the shoulder line" and "The nipples to the belly button equals one head length" is a design feature in my mind. anywho, thats just my $0.02

Thanks for those comparison shots! He looks great next to them, although a bit big. I don't suppose we're going to get a S.O.C. version of him, so I may cave and get this one. Just one more question: there's also a metallic version of Danguard Ace that's a bit more pricey. Do you think he'd fit in better with the more metallic S.O.C. line?

Pretty cool, particularly the blue sections of the arms and legs. The silver sheen is closer to the GX-01R Mazinger than the GX-31V Voltes. One of those things where your taste may vary since the original sheen of the upper arms, upper legs and lower torso are more anime accurate.

The overall effect of the plated really comes out in the Satellizer form.